Soap, Silk and so much more

How do you market your products?

I am always looking for a better way to spread the word about our products. And with the e-commerce site I am trying to improve what is written about the product. A friend told me some time ago of her strategy to tell a story about the listing. She creates unique pieces of jewelry and began to put together pieces that reminded her of people. Then she would tell a story about that person, and how they were the inspiration for her work.

Hmm, that is an interesting strategy, i thought. Now how can i incorporate that into our products? I tried listing one of my silk pieces. This is what i wrote:

Maggie’s Morning Glories

Maggie was my neighbor next door. She hated the bare chain link fence, and one summer she planted morning glories. Slowly they climbed the fence, and each morning they opened their beautiful flowers to reveal rich colors. This scarf pays honor to Maggie and her morning glories. There are four large blue floral forms, edged with a charcoal and on a field of greens. The floral centers are green with a silver metallic resist for accent. All metallic resist is heat fused to the silk, offering a shimmer in the light. This scarf measures 15″ x 60″ and is color fast, and completely hand washable. The fabric is a lightweight habotai silk that is easy to wear. The size of the scarf allows for many options – around the neck, as a belt, in your hair.

There you have it. I posted this item on my etsy site, and within 10 minutes it sold. I will never know the converging factors that brought this to a sale, but in the back of my mind i will always wonder if the the story of Maggie and her morning glories will have made the difference.

So marketing products is a very sensory experience – seeing, hearing, touching, smelling, and in some cases tasting. While the internet limits sensory connection to the product, it opens the door for quality writing, for painting the picture, framing the shot, telling the story in ways that we can relate, ways that draw us to an emotional connection. The product goes from just a product to a bridge to memory, a wearable piece of art, and an expression of creativity that draws us to a special thought.

I think i like that suggestion. And more than that, i think i like how much fun it can be to draw inspiration from the simple and mundane stories of our lives, and capture a spark of enthusiatic joy. Maggie solved her bare chain link problem with a few handfuls of seed, water and time. But the beauty she started from such a desperately simple act lives on, delights our senses in mid summer, and reminds us how fleeting this life is…. especially when i look at that bare naked chain link fence drifted in snow.

So Maggie’s Morning Glories went off to Portland Oregon, where someone is probably now wearing it, and making her own memories with Maggie’s flowers.

Yeah for story telling. Yeah for the opportunity to share our gifts with the world. If you are marketing your products tell your story. It is the story that makes life so much richer!